Excellent essay, Meltha. I found it completely fascinating, and it was wonderful to contrast my own feelings about these three characters with the survey results. As for me, I never felt much of anything about Riley until he started acting like an asshat in S5. Prior to that, he seemed like a perfectly nice guy who would probably make a decent boyfriend for anyone-who-wasn't-Buffy, as he obviously was totally clueless as to what made her tick. He seemed to not "get" her to an almost unbelievable degree. I'm sure he and Sam are very happy together.
OMG! Kennedy! I absolutely could not stand the character, and still have no idea what Willow saw in her. I was one who picked up on the sexual harassment aspects of the relationship, but I think my biggest problem with the "relationship" was it came out of nowhere and had no chance to build. All of the other actual relationships on the show (B/A, X/C, W/O, X/A, B/R, W/T and B/S) built over a period of time. We understood what the main character saw in the love interest. Willow's "relationship with Kennedy felt more like Buffy's with Parker. And, my god, could she be annoying! She's tied with Eve (W&H liaison Eve, not The First pretending to be a Potential Eve) as characters who made me flinch whenever they appeared on-screen. Kennedy is saved from getting my vote for worst character evah! on BtVS only by the appearance of Rona, who just slightly edges Kennedy out due to incessant whining and pure nastiness. If Willow had fallen for Amanda, for example - smart, quirky, funny and likable, I don't think as many fans would have objected to the pairing. Oh, you forgot one additional fact we learned about Kennedy: her house has wings. *g*
As for Andrew - I adore him. He and Harmony are my favorite secondary characters on the shows, but I can see why many others don't enjoy him. He did a lot to make the last season enjoyable for me, though, and the wheelchair derby with Anya was one of the best moments of S7. And in my own mind, I'm certain those two "women" he left with in TGiQ were drag queens.
Thank you again for writing this. It was very thought-provoking and is going in my memories.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2007-07-27 12:09 am (UTC)OMG! Kennedy! I absolutely could not stand the character, and still have no idea what Willow saw in her. I was one who picked up on the sexual harassment aspects of the relationship, but I think my biggest problem with the "relationship" was it came out of nowhere and had no chance to build. All of the other actual relationships on the show (B/A, X/C, W/O, X/A, B/R, W/T and B/S) built over a period of time. We understood what the main character saw in the love interest. Willow's "relationship with Kennedy felt more like Buffy's with Parker. And, my god, could she be annoying! She's tied with Eve (W&H liaison Eve, not The First pretending to be a Potential Eve) as characters who made me flinch whenever they appeared on-screen. Kennedy is saved from getting my vote for worst character evah! on BtVS only by the appearance of Rona, who just slightly edges Kennedy out due to incessant whining and pure nastiness. If Willow had fallen for Amanda, for example - smart, quirky, funny and likable, I don't think as many fans would have objected to the pairing. Oh, you forgot one additional fact we learned about Kennedy: her house has wings. *g*
As for Andrew - I adore him. He and Harmony are my favorite secondary characters on the shows, but I can see why many others don't enjoy him. He did a lot to make the last season enjoyable for me, though, and the wheelchair derby with Anya was one of the best moments of S7. And in my own mind, I'm certain those two "women" he left with in TGiQ were drag queens.
Thank you again for writing this. It was very thought-provoking and is going in my memories.